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Developmental Child Welfare

Developmental Child Welfare


eISSN: 25161040 | ISSN: 25161032 | Current volume: 6 | Current issue: 1 Frequency: Quarterly

Developmental Child Welfare launched in January 2019. The journal arose out of a need for a dedicated platform for multi-disciplinary research applied to advance our understanding of the development, health (including mental health) and well-being of children and adolescents exposed to severe social adversity throughout the world.

The journal is now accepting submissions. To submit an article please see the Manuscript Submission Guidelines.

This journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

The broad aim of the journal is to advance our understanding of the development, health (including mental health) and well-being of children and adolescents exposed to severe social adversity throughout the world, specifically maltreated children and adolescents who remain in their parents’ care, and those subsequently placed in alternative forms of care – as well as the long-term impact that these experiences have on adult development and the development of subsequent generations.

Within this broad aim, the journal’s scope is defined by both specific subject matter, and specific populations. Its subject coverage is limited to children’s psychological, neurological, physical and social development and functioning (including research pertaining to children’s physical and mental health, learning and education), as well as parental, caregiver and systemic factors that shape children’s development and functioning. Its population coverage is limited to maltreated children and adolescents who remain with their families; those placed by the state in statutory (i.e. foster, kinship or residential) care; those who exit statutory care to  adoption or other permanent arrangements, including restoration to their parents’ care; as well as their parents and caregivers (where parenting and caregiver research is directly pertinent to children’s development).

The journal publishes the following types of articles:

1. Regular articles reporting fundamental or applied research
2. Research reviews
3. Research translation articles, including social policy analysis
4. Opinion articles and debate

This journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

 

Editor
Jane Callaghan University of Stirling, UK
Social Media Editor
Anna T. Smyke Tulane University, USA
Associate Editors
Lenneke Alink Leiden University, the Netherlands
Lisa Fellin University of Bergamo, Italy
Anouk Goemans Leiden University, the Netherlands
Brenda Jones Harden University of Maryland, USA
Michael MacKenzie McGill University, Canada
Eamon McCrory University College London, UK
Editorial Board
Becci A. Akin University of Kansas, USA
Isabel Bernedo University of Malaga, Spain
Jill Duerr Berrick University of California, Berkeley, USA
Johanna Bick University of Houston, USA
Nina Biehal University of York, UK
David Brodzinsky Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (Emeritus), USA
Judy Cashmore Sydney Law School & School of Education and Social Work, University of Sydney, Australia
Chi Meng Chu Ministry of Social and Family Development, and National University of Singapore, Singapore
Delphine Collin-Vézina McGill University, Canada
Chantal Cyr Université du Québec à Montréal, Canada
Jorge Fernández del Valle University of Oviedo, Spain
Robbie Duschinsky Cambridge University, UK
Elaine Farmer University of Bristol, UK
Danya Glaser University College London, UK
Hans Grietens University of Groningen, the Netherlands
Erin P. Hambrick University of Missouri at Kansas City, USA
Sandra H. Jee University of Rochester, USA
Andreas Jud University of Ulm, Germany, and Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Switzerland
Femmie Juffer Leiden University, the Netherlands
Jana Kreppner University of Southampton, UK
Sonya J. Leathers University of Illinois at Chicago, USA
Nikki Luke University of Tennessee, USA
Judith Masson University of Bristol, UK
Linda C. Mayes Yale University, USA
Dominic McSherry Queens University Belfast, UK
Lenore M. McWey Florida State University, USA
Joshua P. Mersky University of Wisconsin, USA
Nick Midgley University College London, UK
Helen Minnis University of Glasgow, UK
Elsbeth Neil University of East Anglia, UK
Assaf Oshri University of Georgia, USA
Jesus Palacios University of Seville, Spain
Bruce Perry Northwestern University & The ChildTrauma Academy, USA
Joseph M. Price San Diego State University, USA
Jodi Quas University of California, Davis, USA
Elisa Romano University of Ottawa, Canada
David M. Rubin University of Pennsylvania, USA
Carlo Schuengel Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Julie Selwyn University of Bristol, UK
Aron Shlonsky University of Melbourne, Australia
Jane F. Silovsky University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Centre, USA
Cassandra Simmel Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, USA
John Simmonds CoramBAAF, UK
Gottfried Spangler Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany
Trevor Spratt Trinity College Dublin, Ireland
Heather Taussig University of Denver, USA
Johan Vanderfaeillie Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium
Bo Vinnerljung Stockholm University, Sweden
Harriet Ward Loughborough University, UK
Charles Zeanah Tulane University, USA
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    Please read the guidelines below then visit the Journal’s submission site http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/dcw to upload your manuscript. Please note that manuscripts not conforming to these guidelines may be returned.

    Only manuscripts of sufficient quality that meet the aims and scope of Developmental Child Welfare will be reviewed.

    There are no fees payable to submit or publish in this Journal. Open Access options are available - see section 3.3 below.

    As part of the submission process you will be required to warrant that you are submitting your original work, that you have the rights in the work, that you are submitting the work for first publication in the Journal and that it is not being considered for publication elsewhere and has not already been published elsewhere, and that you have obtained and can supply all necessary permissions for the reproduction of any copyright works not owned by you.

    If you have any questions about publishing with Sage, please visit the Sage Journal Solutions Portal

    1. What do we publish?
      1.1 Aims & Scope
      1.2 Article Types
      1.3 Writing your paper
    2. Editorial policies
      2.1 Peer review policy
      2.2 Authorship
      2.3 Acknowledgements
      2.4 Funding
      2.6 Research ethics and patient consent
    3. Publishing Policies
      3.1 Publication ethics
      3.2 Contributor's publishing agreement
      3.3 Open access and author archiving
    4. Preparing your manuscript for submission
      4.1 File format
      4.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics
      4.3 Supplementary material
      4.4 Reference style
      4.5 Anonymizing for peer review
      4.6 English language editing services
    5. Submitting your manuscript
      5.1 ORCID
      5.2 Information required for completing your submission
      5.3 Permissions
    6. On acceptance and publication
      6.1 Sage Production
      6.2 Online First publication
      6.3 Access to your published article
      6.4 Promoting your article
    7. Further information

     

    1. What do we publish?
     

    1.1 Aims & Scope

    Before submitting your manuscript to Developmental Child Welfare, please ensure you have read the journal’s Aims & Scope.

    1.2 Article Types

    Developmental Child Welfare considers the following kinds of article for publication:

    1.    Regular research articles reporting new empirical findings
    2.    Research reviews
    3.    Research translation articles, including social policy analysis
    4.    Opinion articles and debate

    Developmental Child Welfare does not publish ‘Letters to the Editor’ or ‘Book reviews’. 

    The manuscript should conform to APA publishing style, and must include an abstract containing a maximum of 250 words. All manuscripts should be clearly organized, with a clear hierarchy of headings and subheadings (3 weights maximum). Regular research articles should not exceed 7,500 words (including references, tables and figures, but excluding the abstract), and review articles should not exceed 9,000 words. Unless negotiated with the Editor, other types of articles should not exceed 7,500 words. The journal can host additional ‘supplementary materials’ online (see section 4.3 below). 

    Registered Reports, Pre-Data or Post-Data:  There are two types of Registered Reports:  

    • Registered Reports – Pre-Data, i.e., before any data have been gathered
    • Registered Reports – Post-Data, i.e., before already existing data have been examined and analysed.   

    These submissions are reviewed in two stages. In Stage 1, a study proposal is considered for publication prior to data collection and/or analysis. Stage 1 submissions should include a complete Introduction, Methods, and Proposed Analyses. High-quality proposals will be accepted in principle before data collection and/or data analysis commences. Once the study is completed, the author will finish the article including Results and Discussion sections (Stage 2). Publication of the Stage 2 submission is guaranteed as long as the approved Stage 1 protocol is followed and the conclusions are appropriate. Full details can be found here. The Journal’s manuscript requirements should be adhered to for the stage 2 submission.

    1.3 Writing your paper

    The Sage Author Gateway has some general advice and on how to get published, plus links to further resources. Sage Author Services also offers authors a variety of ways to improve and enhance their article including English language editing, plagiarism detection, and video abstract and infographic preparation.

    1.3.1 Make your article discoverable

    When writing your paper, think about how you can make it discoverable. The title, keywords and abstract are key to ensuring readers find your article through search engines such as Google. For information and guidance on how best to title your article, write your abstract and select your keywords, have a look at this page on the Gateway: How to Help Readers Find Your Article Online.

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    2. Editorial policies
     

    2.1 Peer review policy
    Developmental Child Welfare operates a strictly anonymous peer review process in which the reviewer’s name is withheld from the author and, the author’s name from the reviewer (see section 4 below). Each new submission is carefully read by the Editor to decide whether it has a reasonable chance of being published in DCW. Manuscripts are screened for their fit with the journal’s aims and scope, as well as the quality of the reported research and readability. Those that have a reasonable chance of being published will be reviewed by two or more independent reviewers. The Editor may encourage authors to re-submit a manuscript after making specific changes. 

    As part of the submission process, authors are asked to provide the names of three scholars who could be called upon to review the manuscript. Recommended reviewers should be experts in their fields and should be able to provide an objective assessment of the manuscript. Please be aware of any conflicts of interest when recommending reviewers. Examples of conflicts of interest include, but are not limited to:  

    • The reviewer should have no prior knowledge of your submission
    • The reviewer should not have recently collaborated with any of the authors
    • The reviewer should not belong to the same institution as any of the authors

    Please note that the Editor is not obliged to invite any of the corresponding authors’ recommended reviewers to assess their manuscript.

    2.2 Authorship

    All parties who have made a substantive contribution to the article should be listed as authors. Principal authorship, authorship order, and other publication credits should be based on the relative scientific or professional contributions of the individuals involved, regardless of their status. A student is usually listed as principal author on any multiple-authored publication that substantially derives from the student’s dissertation or thesis.

    Please note that AI chatbots, for example ChatGPT, should not be listed as authors. For more information see the policy on Use of ChatGPT and generative AI tools.

    2.3 Acknowledgements

    Acknowledgements should be appended to the manuscript following acceptance for publication. 
    All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in an Acknowledgements section. Examples of those who might be acknowledged include a person who provided purely technical help, or a department chair who provided only general support.
    Any acknowledgements should appear first at the end of your article prior to your Declaration of Conflicting Interests (if applicable), any notes and your References.

    2.3.1 Third party submissions

    Where an individual who is not listed as an author submits a manuscript on behalf of the author(s), a statement must be included in the Acknowledgements section of the manuscript and in the accompanying cover letter. The statements must:

    •    Disclose this type of editorial assistance – including the individual’s name, company and level of input 
    •    Identify any entities that paid for this assistance 
    •    Confirm that the listed authors have authorized the submission of their manuscript via third party and approved any statements or declarations, e.g. conflicting interests, funding, etc.

    Where appropriate, Sage reserves the right to deny consideration to manuscripts submitted by a third party rather than by the authors themselves.

    2.4 Funding

    Developmental Child Welfare requires all authors to acknowledge their funding in a consistent fashion under a separate heading.  Please visit the Funding Acknowledgements page on the Sage Journal Author Gateway to confirm the format of the acknowledgment text in the event of funding, or state that: This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

    2.5 Declaration of conflicting interests

    Developmental Child Welfare requires authors to include a declaration of any conflicting interests and recommends you review the good practice guidelines on the Sage Journal Author Gateway. This should be included in the final (i.e. accepted) version of your manuscript, after any acknowledgements and prior to the references. If no conflict exists, please state that ‘The Author(s) declare(s) that there is no conflict of interest’. For guidance on conflict of interest statements, please see the ICMJE recommendations here.

    2.6 Research ethics and patient consent

    Medical research involving human subjects must be conducted according to the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki.

    Submitted manuscripts should conform to the ICMJE Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals, and all papers reporting animal and/or human studies must state in the methods section that the relevant Ethics Committee or Institutional Review Board provided (or waived) approval. While the manuscript should initially exclude the institution’s name to allow for anonymize peer review, the final accepted article should include the full name and institution of the review committee, in addition to the approval number. An example of how to deal with this in the submitted manuscript is “The study design was approved by the University of [name withheld for anonymize peer review] Human Ethics Research Committee, approval # HE43524.”

    For research articles, authors are also required to state in the methods section whether participants provided informed consent and whether the consent was written or verbal.

    Information on informed consent to report individual cases or case series should be included in the manuscript text. A statement is required regarding whether written informed consent for patient information and images to be published was provided by the patient(s) or a legally authorized representative.

    Please also refer to the ICMJE Recommendations for the Protection of Research Participants.

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    3. Publishing Policies

    3.1 Publication ethics

    Developmental Child Welfare and Sage take issues of copyright infringement, plagiarism or other breaches of best practice in publication very seriously. We seek to protect the rights of our authors and we always investigate claims of plagiarism or misuse of published articles. Equally, we seek to protect the reputation of the journal against malpractice. Submitted articles may be checked with duplication-checking software. Where an article, for example, is found to have plagiarised other work or included third-party copyright material without permission or with insufficient acknowledgement, or where the authorship of the article is contested, we reserve the right to take action including, but not limited to: publishing an erratum or corrigendum (correction); retracting the article; taking up the matter with the head of department or dean of the author's institution and/or relevant academic bodies or societies; or taking appropriate legal action.

    3.1.1 Plagiarism

    If material has been previously published it is not generally acceptable for publication in a Sage journal. However, there are certain circumstances where previously published material can be considered for publication. Please refer to the guidance on the Sage Author Gateway or if in doubt, contact the Editor via the email address given below.

    3.1.2 Prior publication

    Before publication, Sage requires the author as the rights holder to sign a Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement. Sage’s Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement is an exclusive licence agreement which means that the author retains copyright in the work but grants Sage the sole and exclusive right and licence to publish for the full legal term of copyright. Exceptions may exist where an assignment of copyright is required or preferred by a proprietor other than Sage. In this case copyright in the work will be assigned from the author to the society. For more information please visit the Sage Author Gateway.

    3.2 Contributor's publishing agreement

    Developmental Child Welfare offers optional open access publishing via the Sage Choice programme. For more information please visit the Sage Choice website. For information on funding body compliance, and depositing your article in repositories, please visit Sage Publishing Policies on our Journal Author Gateway.

    3.3 Open access and author archiving

    Developmental Child Welfare offers optional open access publishing via the Sage Choice programme and Open Access agreements, where authors can publish open access either discounted or free of charge depending on the agreement with Sage. Find out if your institution is participating by visiting Open Access Agreements at Sage. For more information on Open Access publishing options at Sage please visit Sage Open Access. For information on funding body compliance, and depositing your article in repositories, please visit Sage’s Author Archiving and Re-Use Guidelines and Publishing Policies.

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    4. Preparing your manuscript for submission

    4.1 File format

    The preferred format for your manuscript is Word. LaTeX files are also accepted. Word and (La)Tex templates are available on the Manuscript Submission Guidelines page of our Author Gateway.

    4.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics

    For guidance on the preparation of illustrations, pictures and graphs in electronic format, please visit Sage’s Manuscript Submission Guidelines.

    Figures supplied in colour will appear in colour online regardless of whether or not these illustrations are reproduced in colour in the printed version. For specifically requested colour reproduction in print, you will receive information regarding the costs from Sage after receipt of your accepted article.

    4.3 Supplementary material

    This journal is able to host additional materials online (e.g. datasets, podcasts, videos, images etc) alongside the full-text of the article. For more information please refer to our guidelines on submitting supplementary files.

    4.4 Reference style

    Developmental Child Welfare adheres to the APA reference style. View the APA guidelines to ensure your manuscript conforms to this reference style.

    4.5 Anonymizing for peer review

    To facilitate anonymize peer review, authors should make all reasonable efforts to ensure that their manuscript does not reveal their identities to reviewers. Where a reviewer might reasonably infer that a cited publication is the authors’ previous work (e.g. “… In our previous study …”), the work should be cited in text as [author citation withheld for peer review], and it should be temporarily withheld from the reference list. Similarly, depending on the field of research, details of the author’s institution or city might reasonably identify a manuscript’s authorship. To ensure anonymize peer review, Acknowledgements, Funding information and Declarations of conflicts of interest (see sections 2.3, 2.4 and 2.5) should only be inserted into the final version of the manuscript, following acceptance for publication. 

    There will of course be situations in which a study’s authorship cannot be shielded from reviewers, which may warrant a discussion between the corresponding author and editor.  

    4.6 English language editing services

    Authors seeking assistance with English language editing, translation, or figure and manuscript formatting to fit the journal’s specifications should consider using Sage Language Services. Visit Sage Language Services on our Journal Author Gateway for further information.

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    5. Submitting your manuscript

    Developmental Child Welfare is hosted on Sage Track, a web based online submission and peer review system powered by ScholarOne™ Manuscripts. Visit http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/dcw to login and submit your article online.

    IMPORTANT: Please check whether you already have an account in the system before trying to create a new one. If you have reviewed or authored for the journal in the past year it is likely that you will have had an account created.  For further guidance on submitting your manuscript online please visit ScholarOne Online Help.

    If you would like to discuss your paper prior to submission, please contact the Editor via the email addressed listed below.

    5.1 ORCID

    As part of our commitment to ensuring an ethical, transparent and fair peer review process Sage is a supporting member of ORCID, the Open Researcher and Contributor ID. ORCID provides a unique and persistent digital identifier that distinguishes researchers from every other researcher, even those who share the same name, and, through integration in key research workflows such as manuscript and grant submission, supports automated linkages between researchers and their professional activities, ensuring that their work is recognized.

    The collection of ORCID iDs from corresponding authors is now part of the submission process of this journal. If you already have an ORCID iD you will be asked to associate that to your submission during the online submission process. We also strongly encourage all co-authors to link their ORCID ID to their accounts in our online peer review platforms. It takes seconds to do: click the link when prompted, sign into your ORCID account and our systems are automatically updated. Your ORCID iD will become part of your accepted publication’s metadata, making your work attributable to you and only you. Your ORCID iD is published with your article so that fellow researchers reading your work can link to your ORCID profile and from there link to your other publications.

    If you do not already have an ORCID iD please follow this link to create one or visit our ORCID homepage to learn more.

    5.2 Information required for completing your submission

    You will be asked to provide contact details and academic affiliations for all co-authors via the submission system and identify who is to be the corresponding author. These details must match what appears on your manuscript. At this stage please ensure you have included all the required statements and declarations and uploaded any additional supplementary files (including reporting guidelines where relevant).

    5.3 Permissions

    Please also ensure that you have obtained any necessary permission from copyright holders for reproducing any illustrations, tables, figures or lengthy quotations previously published elsewhere. For further information including guidance on fair dealing for criticism and review, please see the Copyright and Permissions page on the Sage Author Gateway.

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    6. On acceptance and publication

    6.1 Sage Production
    Your Sage Production Editor will keep you informed as to your article’s progress throughout the production process. Proofs will be sent by PDF to the corresponding author and should be returned promptly.  Authors are reminded to check their proofs carefully to confirm that all author information, including names, affiliations, sequence and contact details are correct, and that Funding and Conflict of Interest statements, if any, are accurate.

    6.2 Online First publication

    Online First allows final articles (completed and approved articles awaiting assignment to a future issue) to be published online prior to their inclusion in a journal issue, which significantly reduces the lead time between submission and publication. Visit the Sage Journals help page for more details, including how to cite Online First articles

    6.3 Access to your published article

    Sage provides authors with online access to their final article.

    6.4 Promoting your article

    Publication is not the end of the process! You can help disseminate your paper and ensure it is as widely read and cited as possible. The Sage Author Gateway has numerous resources to help you promote your work. Visit the Promote Your Article page on the Gateway for tips and advice. 

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    7. Further information

    Any correspondence, queries or additional requests for information should be sent to the Editor, Professor Jane Callaghan, Email: jane.callaghan@stir.ac.uk

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